Publications

Restructuring of Borsa Istanbul's Share Market

November 2015

On 20 January 2014, Borsa İstanbul A.Ş. (the "Borsa İstanbul") and NASDAQ entered into a strategic cooperation agreement. The goal of the strategic cooperation agreement is for all markets under Borsa İstanbul to operate under a single trading platform. The first phase of this transition envisages the Shares Market and all submarkets operating thereunder to move to a new trading platform, the NASDAQ Genium INET ("BISTECH"). Accordingly, on 13 November 2015 Borsa İstanbul approved a new Listing Directive (the "Listing Directive") that sets forth the listing procedures to be carried out after the adoption of the BISTECH platform. Under the Listing Directive; which came into effect on 30 November 2015, the market structure of the Shares Market is reorganised, and changes to the listing and delisting requirements are introduced. This note provides an overview of the changes in rules and procedures applicable to (i) the operation of the markets, (ii) market structures, (iii) listing and delisting conditions, (iv) qualified investors, (v) SPACs (as defined below) and (vi) dual listing under the new Listing Directive.